


Artemis

by purplechucks



Series: The Slightly Pointless Adventures of Clint and Kate [2]
Category: Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Deaf Clint Barton, Deaf Dog, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-20
Updated: 2015-03-20
Packaged: 2018-03-18 18:19:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3579279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purplechucks/pseuds/purplechucks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's funny really, how dogs just seem to find their way into Clint Barton's life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Artemis

**Author's Note:**

> A special thanks to deafhavvkeye over on tumblr whose awesome [post](http://deafhavvkeye.tumblr.com/post/108125206314/clint-barton-going-to-the-animal-shelter-and) inspired this.

“Hello Clint, nice to see you again.”

Clint waves at Lillian, the manager of the animal shelter he frequents to buy Lucky his food. Lillian and her nephew Jason, a vet student, have become sort-of friends to Clint as long as he’s had Lucky. Sometimes they’ll dog sit for him if Simone or Aimee can’t.

“Hi Lillian. Just here so the dog doesn’t eat me out of house and home.”

Clint strolls down one of the little aisles, finds a bag of the dry food he usually gets Lucky and adds some canned food and treats to the pile in his arms and takes it to the counter. Lillian scans it all, and instead of taking the cash Clint holds out to her she studies him for a bit, making Clint a little uncomfortable.

“Can I, uh, help you Lillian?”

“I’m sorry for being forward, but I noticed a while back that you wear hearing aids. You’re deaf? You know sign language?”

Clint nods, not sure where the conversation is going. He’s used to being deaf, but not really used to people noticing.

“Well, I was hoping you can help me and Jason out. You see, we’ve had this little dog in our care for nearly four months now, and the vet’s told us she’s deaf. We’ve been trying to get her adopted but we’ve had no luck at all and-”

“Could I see her?” Clint interrupts.

“Oh... yes, of course you can.”

Lillian leads him to the back of the shelter, where the animals stay. Jason is inside the large enclosure they keep the kittens in, and despite there being at least three of the little furballs on his shoulders he manages to wave when he sees Clint.

“I’m just letting Clint see little Artemis,” Lillian explains, leading Clint over to where the dogs are kept.

“Artemis? That’s unusual,” Clint observes.

“The people who brought her in have a daughter who’s a Greek mythology buff, I think she named her.”

A few of the dogs bark as Lillian and Clint walk past, everything from a large German Shepard to a tiny little Jack Russell. Lillian opens the eighth door down, and motions for Clint to go in. In the little room is a young Australian Terrier, contently chewing on a rubber bone.

“We were wondering if you knew any signs that we could use to help train her, then she might seem more appealing to potential owners. You know, if they know she’s already trained and we just have to show them the signs. Artemis is such a sweet little thing. Ten months old, great with adults and kids, and apart from jumping a little when someone comes up behind her she’s very strong willed.”

“Unfortunately, a dog that’s a bit different puts a lot of people off,” Jason says, free of kittens clinging to him. “She’s the first dog we show people looking for a smaller one. When they find out she’s deaf, gee Clint, they come up with the worst excuses.”

Clint feels a deep pang in his chest, and he sits down a few feet away from Artemis, who looks up at him curiously for a moment, then makes her way over to him. She welcomes Clint’s fingers scratching her ears and eventually ends up in his lap. Clint feels tears pricking his eyes, and a slow burning anger fills his insides, directed at everyone who’s ignored this dog just because she might need a little different care to all the others in here. He remembers social workers talking about him and Barney, how it was always hard to find a home for them because Clint’s hearing made them a special needs case. A lot of the time, they'd just get dumped with any old person who had signed up to be a foster carer, whether they had the right skills or not. It was awful. 

_Jesus, Barton, get a grip_

“I tell you what,” Clint says, once he’s certain his voice isn’t going to betray his emotions. “Don’t bother with the sign language thing. I’ll adopt her.”

“Really? I don’t want you to think I’m forcing-” Lillian begins.

“I want to,” Clint interrupts. “I just wish you told me about her sooner.”

“Well, if you want to come back tomorrow, we’ll make sure she’s got all the right vaccinations and you can take her home.”

Clint adds a small dog bed, a collar and another food bowl to the things he’s already bought. When he gets home, Lucky sniffs the new things with interest, then looks curiously up at Clint.

“I’m bringing you home a friend tomorrow,” he explains. “Be grateful.”  

 

Clint brings Artemis home on a cold autumn morning, and she follows him around the apartment all day. Lucky follows her, and so the rest of the day consists of Clint trying to go about his business with two dogs shadowing him. After lunch and an episode of dog cops with Artemis on lying on his chest and Lucky on his legs, he sets about beginning to teach Artemis some signs. Lucky ends up following, so he has three eyes carefully watching all his hand movements, anxious for treats.

“So,” a voice says from the doorway to his apartment, two days later. “Did you take this dog from the tracksuits as well?”

Kate looks rather unimpressed, a duffel bag in one hand and her bow and quiver in the other. Clint’s sitting on the floor, Artemis and Lucky sitting in front of him. Lucky wags his tail at the sight of a familiar face, while Artemis cocks her head to the side, looking at Kate. Kate dumps her stuff on the sofa and sits down on the floor next to Clint, crossing her legs. “So?”

“I adopted her from the shelter. She’s deaf.”

An unidentifiable expression crosses Kate’s face for a moment , then her features soften and she reaches over to pat the newest addition. “So you’re teaching her sign language? What’s her name?”

“Well, they’re both learning it now. Her name’s Artemis, but I call her Artie, it’s easier to sign,” Clint demonstrates fingerspelling her name.

Kate starts giggling, hand covering her mouth, and Clint can’t work out what’s so funny. “What? Why’s her name funny?”

“No, it’s just…” Kate calms herself down. “Artemis was a Greek God known for using the bow and arrow. So first you get a dog formerly called Arrow, and now little Artie here.”

Clint looks at her incredulously for a moment before Lucky lets out a bark to bring attention back on him and Artie. “Sorry boy” he says to the dog. “Ready for this Katie?”

He turns to the dogs, puts both his hands in the sign for the letter ‘u’, then taps his right fingers on his left. _Sit_. Once the dogs are both sitting, he changes his hand shape and makes another motion. _Stay_. He and Kate shuffle backwards so they’re a couple of feet away from Lucky and Artie, then Clint places a treat for each of them on the floor. They watch Clint’s hands intently, and leap up as soon as Clint motions towards himself. _Come_.

They demolish the small treats, and are each rewarded with a scratch on the neck by Clint. _Good dogs_ , he signs.

“That’s cool,” Kate says. “What else have you taught them?”

“Just the basics. Yes, no, down, sit, stay, come. But Artie’s soaking this up like a sponge.”

Kate puts Artie in her lap to give the terrier a belly rub, and she’s not even doing it for thirty seconds before Lucky barks in protest. Clint grabs the Labrador around the middle pulls Lucky towards him. He’s way too big to sit on Clint’s lap, but he tries to anyway.

“Aww, are you jealous that you have a bit of competition, Lucky?” Kate grins, scratching Lucky’s ear.

After that, every Saturday Kate comes over to take the dogs to the park with him, because he tried it once by himself and forgot how tiny Artemis was and nearly lost her. Kate’s right, he can be a bit of a disaster occasionally. They practice signing at the dogs from a distance and Clint adds more signs to Kate’s vocabulary.

Clint’s had Artie for two months when a German Shepherd puppy runs up to Artie and Lucky, followed by a little girl with a leash in her hand. She clips it onto the puppy’s collar, and waves Kate and Clint. They walk over, and immediately Lucky hides behind Kate’s leg. Artie seems happy to continue sniffing the German Shepherd.

“Seriously Lucky? You’re the biggest dog here,” Kate says, then turns to the girl. “Thank you.”

The little girl points at her ears, and then shakes her head. Kate figures it out before Clint does, and immediately switches to sign language. _Thank you. My name is Kate. This is Clint, Lucky and Artie._

 _You sign?_ the girl signs with excitement. _I am Becca. My dog is Rue._

Clint turns his head to show Becca his hearing aids. _I’m deaf. So is Artie. I know sign and have been teaching Kate and the dogs._

Becca claps her hands together, and gives them a massive grin. Awesome! I want to teach Rue sign. She pauses, and squints at Clint, like she’s trying to work out something about him. Her eyes widen in recognition, and she let’s out a silent gasp. _You’re an Avenger. You’re Hawkeye! No one told me you’re deaf._

 _Not many people know._ Clint smiles. _But now you do._

They’re interrupted by a woman coming up to them and scolding Becca in sign for running off. Clint waves goodbye, smiling as he sees Becca rapidly signing to her mother about how _there’s a deaf Avenger mom, can you believe it? I want to be a superhero just like him!_ and _do you think we can teach Rue sign language so I can teach her tricks._ Clint’s often wondered what he’d do if suddenly everyone knew he’s deaf. Now he’s not so sure if he’d mind.

Kate bumps his arm with her shoulder. “‘s not so bad is it?”

“What is?”

“It’s not so bad knowing you’re not alone.”

God bless Kate Bishop and her wise words. They walk back to his place, bumping shoulders along the way and trying not to trip over dogs that walk too close to their ankles. Artie takes off after a bird and Kate sprints after her, because they can’t call out for her to stop. She spends the rest of the journey home in Kate’s arms as punishment. Clint doesn’t really think it’s punishment, Artie looks pretty content snuggled against Kate’s purple jacket. When they get home it’s time for Dog Cops and pizza for dinner, then Kate decides to crash on the couch instead of heading home. In the morning, she’s going to be up way before him and make a ridiculous amount of coffee. She’ll probably be annoyed he has no food for breakfast and they’ll go so they’ll go and get pancakes before she spends the rest of the day doing whatever it is she does when she’s not at his place. Probably school work or something equally boring.

Kate’s right.

It’s really not so bad **.**

**Author's Note:**

> Becca is based on the stories I've heard about children's reactions to finding out there's a deaf superhero.


End file.
